23 Things We Would Lose If Donald Trump Became President

1. Social service work that combats discrimination, bigotry, racism, intolerance, and prejudice will become exponentially harder if Mr. Trump becomes president. Activists and teachers who are dedicated to healing ethnic, racial, and religious divides will find their work that much more difficult with a leader who fails to communicate with compassion and professionalism about social issues that affect us all.

2. Progress on LGBTQ rights and women’s reproductive rights is likely to suffer setbacks in the Supreme Court if Mr. Trump chooses to fill the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia’s death with a justice who shares Scalia’s discriminatory values.

3. Our constitutional right to practice religion freely has already been threatened by Mr. Trump’s rhetoric. I can’t begin to imagine how non-Christian groups will suffer under four years of an administration that holds such fearful prejudices about different cultures and devalues non-Christian beliefs.

4. If recent responses from nations other than Russia are any indication, our international reputation for experienced leadership and diplomacy will suffer. 

5. Mr. Trump’s statements about African Americans and Latinos indicate that he has no idea how much progress we have all made by standing behind inspirational leaders, from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Cesar Chavez, who have encouraged us to defend our rights respectfully and nonviolently. Under a Trump presidency, we can expect different ethnic and racial groups to be pitted against each other.

6. When a citizen asks, “What are the top three functions of the United States Government?” I do not find “Security, security, security” to be a valid answer. Government serves many other valuable functions that Mr. Trump could have mentioned in his response at a town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

7. According to Mr. Trump’s platform, we would lose the Common Core State Standards Initiative that has been adopted by 42 of 50 states. A detailed plan for managing the upheaval in the current education system is nowhere to be found on donaldjtrump.com . 

8. We would lose all confidence in our willingness as a nation to tackle student loan debt and to improve the opportunity of many more students to afford a college education. 

9. Based on Mr. Trump’s unfortunate mocking of an individual with a disability, we are likely to lose some of the progress we’ve made in loving, accepting, and providing for the disabled community. 

10. Following Mr. Trump’s example, we would lose our respect for those who have died for our country if they happen to be members of certain ethnic or religious groups. 

11. We would lose our ability to engage in civil debates about social issues without demeaning other people and their ideas. 

12. We need to have a “president of all the people,” yet under a Trump administration, members of the LGBTQ community, Muslims, African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, and many other groups will lose the feeling that their president embraces their needs and interests.

13. Fear is paralyzing, and Mr. Trump is encouraging voters to fear everything. At the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama reminded us that God gave us the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2nd Timothy, 1:7). If Mr. Trump is elected president we would not merely lose the promise of 2nd Timothy, we would willingly forfeit it. 

14. The statement Mr. Trump made in his pitch to African Americans— You live in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs”— is false. African Americans do have jobs, but many of us will lose them if his platform goes into effect.

15. In all likelihood, Trump will seek to gut the Affordable Care Act and as a result many citizens could lose their current health insurance or end up paying much more for it. 

16. According to Mr. Trump’s platform, the United States would pull out of NATO, which means we’d be losing our place in a 67-year-old international security alliance. 

17. According to Mr. Trump’s mass deportation plan, households would lose family members. Let’s not forget the Holocaust, Japanese internment camps, displacing Native Americans, and the slave trade. Deportation is not a matter of commerce or shipping, but a matter of separating fathers and daughters, sons and mothers. We have much more humane and economically feasible ways to cope with immigration. 

18. In addition, we would lose billions of people from our workforce if Mr. Trump carried out his threats and the entire country would experience untold economic dislocation and devastation. We would begin to resemble countries in the Mideast that are wracked by ongoing refugee crises.

19. Even as more scientists devise innovative ways to address global warming, we will lose what progress we have made in counteracting this global crisis.

20. We will lose a vast percentage of our natural resources if Mr. Trump doesn’t seek to continue and further regulations that preserve them. 

21. By the same token, we will lose much of the land that is currently set aside for public parks, recreation, and wilderness as Mr. Trump makes concessions to corporate interests who want to use that land for commercial purposes.

22. We would lose an understanding of what is considered appropriate behavior for government officials, and civil behavior for citizens.

23. When people feel oppressed and believe they are victims of discrimination, racism, and prejudice, their emotional well being is damaged and we stand to lose their productivity. If Mr. Trump is elected president we will experience a prolonged season of declining productivity caused by electing someone to office who openly holds prejudices and incites the racism and religious antagonism in hearts all over the country. 

We’d lose everything.

Nicole Javanna Johnson (23) holds a degree in Ethics & Management of Artistic Production from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. Nicole is also an alumna of the Professional Performing Arts School in midtown New York and Founder & Creative Director of Javanna Productions . Javanna Productions is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides students with the resources needed to give back to their communities creatively. Every year, the non-profit presents an effort entitled M.O.V.E. (Motivation Opportunity Vision Entertainment). In this effort students are encouraged to think critically about social issues and create socially responsible artistic pieces to raise funds and awareness for a variety of causes. Recently, Nicole administered a three month civic learning summer program and performance in New York for students at the Professional Performing Arts school in NYC. The education program, M.O.V.E. WE HEAL, encouraged students ages 12- 21 to think critically about the social issues that tear our communities apart. By providing students with opportunities to participate in inter-generational dialogue and introspective work about discrimination, intolerance, prejudice, racism and bigotry, Nicole seeks to develop solution oriented efforts and behaviors that tackle daily injustices. 

Through this creative process we believe our students are healing from their own personal experiences with discrimination, bigotry, intolerance, etc. #13 Fear is paralyzing, and Mr. Trump is encouraging voters to fear everything. At the 2016 National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama reminded us that God gave us the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2nd Timothy, 1:7). If Mr. Trump is elected president we would not merely lose the promise of 2nd Timothy, we would willingly forfeit it.